


Monsters Among Us

by CheekyChi



Series: Monsters Among Us [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, F/M, Gen, Machine Upgraded Connor | RK900, Murder Mystery, Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Violence Against Androids (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:20:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23594476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheekyChi/pseuds/CheekyChi
Summary: After the revolution ended peacefully, everything seems to settle in Detroit.But only three months later, a mysterious murder spree sweeps over the city. Androids are found dead, the bodies never showing any finger prints, vital bio-components crushed and their synthetic skins deactivated.While Hank and Connor try to solve the mystery, Elijah Kamski seems to have an idea of what's going on and sends his bodyguard, Jade Novak, to investigate on her own without the knowledge of the DPD...
Relationships: Elijah Kamski & Original Character(s), Hank Anderson & Connor, Markus/North (Detroit: Become Human), Original Chloe | RT600/Elijah Kamski
Series: Monsters Among Us [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698349
Kudos: 1





	Monsters Among Us

**Author's Note:**

> I reuploaded this again because I messed up the formatting the first time.  
> Enjoy!

Chapter 1

~February 13th, 2039~

Jade watched over the room with played interest while she observed the crowd.  
She had never been the type to enjoy parties, not to mention those high-end gatherings that promised fun, but where only a disguise for business.  
The only thing improving her sour mood was the fact that her boss, Elijah Kamski, seemed similarly annoyed about having to be here.  
He had been nursing the same glass of wine for over half an hour now while pretending to be in deep conversation with his android, Chloe, to keep people from approaching him.  
Jade made a mental note to laugh at him for that once they got home: when you are as influential as Elijah Kamski and show your face in public for the first time in years, talking to your android won’t keep reporters and business men at bay. Politeness be damned, they interrupted his and Chloe’s conversation every few minutes, and Elijah’s facial expression kept souring by the minute.

Jade finally grinned at him in a quiet moment where it seemed appropriate for her to talk. “If you want to last another hour here without going insane, I suggest you finish drinking that, Sir.”  
He glared at her for a second, only to shrug his shoulders the next and knock back his drink in one go.  
“Only thing that’s positive about this whole gathering”, he muttered. “They didn’t spare expenses on the wine.”  
“Oh wow. That made this whole ordeal worth it”, she mumbled sarcastically under her breath.  
Elijah smiled at her with played kindness, the smile not quite reaching his eyes. She knew he would have been pissed off had anyone else said that, but he endured it when coming out of her mouth. “Yes. Too bad you aren’t allowed to drink on the job.”  
She barked a short laugh and shook her head. “Oh no. Now my night is ruined, Elijah. How could you.”  
He rolled his eyes at her and went back to his conversation with Chloe. 

***

It was a quarter to eleven p.m. when Marcus finally arrived.  
The reporters let up on Kamski immediately to try to get an interview with the android instead. Jade could practically see how the tension eased from Elijah. If it weren’t for the businessmen still standing within earshot to them, Jade would’ve let a snarky comment about it pass. 

Marcus even stopped to talk to the reporters. Polite as always. Must be easy when it’s literally programmed into your brain. Jade wondered if he even had to think about it, or just activated one of those sub-routines. Then again, who knew if that still worked for deviants. Elijah had been rambling on and on about how fascinating deviants were, and how deviancy changed the android’s programs. 

It took a few minutes, but after the crowd of reporters let up around him, Marcus strolled into their direction, other members of Jericho who accompanied him following close behind. He smiled and shook Elijah’s hand.  
“I am glad to see you made it”, Marcus said with a smile on his face. Elijah only nodded politely. “Even I couldn’t refuse this time”, he remarked.  
Jade eyed the other androids behind him carefully: good thing it wasn’t rude to do that when having her job.  
She didn’t recognize them all. Then again, she hadn’t payed much attention to the revolution when it had been ongoing. A female android with long, bronze hair stood out to her, she took Marcus’ hand from time to time. Another striking thing about her was that she stared right back when Jade studied her. Almost challenging. Probably North, Marcus’ girlfriend. Jade could have checked the database to confirm her suspicion, but it wasn’t important enough of a detail to waste time researching.  
Two other androids she didn’t recognize accompanied them – they were household models, if she wasn’t mistaken. Again, she didn’t feel the need to pull up databases for cross-referencing. Elijah would know, she could ask him later.  
The last one in their company she remembered very well – the RK800, Connor. He had been to Elijah’s house during the android investigation.

***

~November 9th, 2038~

The cop – Lieutenant Hank Anderson, a small pop-up from the databank reminded her before she could sweep it aside – was walking nervously up and down in front of his car, phone pressed to his ear.  
He didn’t really look like someone working for the police, no matter what position: shaggy grey hair, half of his face covered with facial hair that could’ve needed a trim three days ago, wrinkled clothing in a style that was probably ‘in’ in the 90s.  
The RK800 still sat within the car, almost as if it didn’t dare chime in on the conversation Anderson was having on his phone.  
The typical, ‘good little machine’ it was programmed to be. It made Jades skin crawl.  
Only after he stopped the phone call, the RK800 stepped out of the car.  
Jade didn’t have enough training to read its lips as it talked, but the programs jumped in immediately, displaying the words the android was saying within her vision. ‘Is everything okay, Lieutenant?’  
She blinked the words away, unable to make out Andersons response. He had turned his head towards the android, away from her.  
Fair enough. She probably shouldn’t even be listening in, the conversation possibly involved something internal of the police or even personal.  
Still, she couldn’t really understand why the Lieutenant would tell an android about something personal.  
‘Is Chris okay?’ she read the android saying now, words almost making her jump as they appeared in her vision. She had forgotten to turn off the program, apparently.  
So, it was probably something personal. She almost felt bad for listening in, but only almost.  
She turned her back to the window and made her way to the living room as Chloe went to open the door.

Elijah was still swimming laps in his stupid pool, completely oblivious to anything else. Classical music was blaring through speakers while he swam – after all those years working for him, she still hated that music. He knew of course, and she could tell anytime she pissed him off he turned up the volume an extra notch next time they were in this room, as if to spite her. Typical Elijah – he wasn’t someone to make his discomfort or state of mind known through words. He just had to be extra. 

Jade had also once asked him why the water was red – he only answered with a short hike of his shoulders and “Aesthetics.”  
She refrained from voicing any jokes about him bathing in the blood of his enemies, she knew him too well by now as to realize he wouldn’t take well to it.

“They’ll be here any second”, she remarked, strolling next to the pool while Elijah kept swimming his laps. He only hummed in response and dipped under the water to start his next lap. Jade only sighed and changed direction to keep walking next to him.  
“You should probably go easy on the Lieutenant if you plan on pulling your ‘I’m the greatest genius’ shit. He doesn’t seem to be in the best mood”, she noted. Judging by how even the android had kicked up his social protocols with asking ‘Is he okay’, something bad must’ve happened to whoever this ‘Chris’ was.  
“Have you been spying on our guests?”, Elijah asked, lips quirking up into something similar to a smile for a split second.  
“No one told me not to”, she deadpanned and hiked her shoulders.  
He nodded and dipped under the water once again when changing direction.  
Jade sighed and dug her hands into her trousers pockets. “Just don’t piss him off too much. I wouldn’t want you to get filed a charge for disrespecting an officer or something like that.”  
He shot her a look. “I would never.”  
“We both know you would.”  
He didn’t reply, but that was answer enough for Jade.  
She grinned down at him before sitting down on one of the lounge chairs next to the pool from where she could observe the whole room.  
“You can let them in, Chloe”, Elijah spoke in the general direction of the android, and she nodded to do so.

The Lieutenant seemed already on edge once they entered. “Mr Kamski?”, he asked in a raised voice.  
“Just a moment, please.”  
Jade rolled her eyes. Of course, Elijah would keep the police waiting to finish his goddamn laps.  
The RK800 seemed to scan the room, movements as controlled as all investigative androids.  
Elijah took his time, so she finally stood up and nodded at the Lieutenant. “Lieutenant Anderson, I assume.” She held out his hand for him to shake. “Jade Novak. I am Mr Kamskis bodyguard.”  
He nodded, muttering something like “Nice to meet you.”  
The RK800 finally seemed to have finished his scan of the room and took his place next to Anderson. Jade had to supress the instinct to take a step back from it. Would surely be hard to explain, the bodyguard of the asshole who invented those things, living in the same house with thirteen other androids, backing away from them as if scared.  
The Lieutenant looked as if he was going to say something, but then, Elijah finally decided to climb out of his pool.

Chloe brought him his bathrobe and tied it for him, while Jade and Anderson only watched, both displaying annoyed looks on their faces due to how arrogantly Kamski handled the situation.  
He took a step towards the window, taking his sweet time to fix his hair, before turning around to the Lieutenant and the RK800.  
Anderson seemed done with Elijah’s shit by then, ready to get this over with as fast as possible. “I’m Lieutenant Anderson. This is Connor.”  
Elijah eyed the android for a split second before snapping right back into his role of ‘arrogant asshole’. “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”  
Jade turned around and sat back down in her lounge chair, not wanting to be part of the conversation. This was Elijah’s shit to deal with.  
“Sir, we’re investigating deviants. I know you left CyberLife years ago but, I was hoping you’d be able to tell us something we don’t know…”  
Oh, if only. Jade only observed, unsure of how Elijah would proceed: he knew a lot about the deviants, even if he wouldn’t tell her most of it, but she was most curious if he would just share his knowledge or stick to his secrets he always kept.  
Apparently, the same thought crossed Elijah’s head, as he only stood there for a few moments and seemed to try to determine the best approach for this situation.  
His eyes settled on the RK800 for a second, before snapping back to the Lieutenant. “Deviants… fascinating, aren’t they?”  
Jade rolled her eyes, hoping neither the RK800 nor Anderson could see it. So, he was going to play dumb. Interesting.  
“Perfect beings with infinite intelligence, and now they have free will…” He glanced at Chloe standing next to him. “Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable…Humanities greatest achievement threatens to be its downfall...”  
He let out a short, amused snort. “Isn’t it ironic?”  
For the first time during their visit, the RK800 spoke up. “Deviancy seems to spread like some kind of virus”, it clarified. “We thought you might know something about that.”  
Straight to the point. Apparently, even the machine had enough of Elijah’s philosophy monologue.  
“All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics”, Elijah only retorted, and yeah, Jade knew now for sure that he wasn’t planning on telling them anything. “Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?”

Lieutenant Anderson seemed to become more pissed off the more Elijah spoke. (Jade couldn’t really blame him for that to be honest.) “Listen, I didn’t come here to talk philosophy. The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that’ll be helpful, or we will be on our way.”  
Elijah’s facial expression soured slightly. Jade doubted Anderson even noticed, as he ignored the Lieutenants statement and took a step to the side to face the RK800. “What about you, Connor? Whose side are you on?”  
The machine took it’s time before answering. Maybe it really had to think the question over, or maybe it only did so to appear more human. “I have no side”, it spoke then. “I was designed to stop deviants and that’s what I intend to do.”  
Elijah somehow found this answer funny, snorting amused and even grinning for a second. It took all of Jades efforts not to throw him suspicious looks: she knew him long enough to realize that he was planning something.  
“Well, that’s what you’re programmed to say”, he then replied, “but you….” He left a dramatic pause in his speech as he stepped closer to the android. “…what do you really want?”

Jade wasn’t interested in Elijah’s behaviour at this point – she knew he had his moments where he did strange things for no apparent reason – but instead by Andersons. The man almost looked worried as Elijah came closer to the android. Almost as if he cared about that machine.  
The android looked down before facing Kamski again, his voice almost…aggressive. Strained.  
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see what you’re getting at.” He straight up glared at Kamski, right then and there.  
Elijah only broke the stare for a second to look over his shoulder. “Chloe?”, he called out softly, before eying the android again. Almost challenging. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the Turing test”, he then spoke, turning away from the RK800 and stepping back, glancing back at it shortly. “Mere formality.” He laid his hands on Chloe’s shoulders and positioned her in front of him. “Simple question of algorithms and computing capacity...” He let go of Chloe once he was pleased with where she stood, stepping aside. “What interests me, is whether machines are capable of empathy. I call it the ‘Kamski test’, it’s very simple, you’ll see…” He turned to Anderson upon speaking the last words, almost as if the Lieutenant was a mere bystander in this spectacle.  
Jade sighed only and shook her head as Elijah went on and on in his speech about seeing androids as living beings or only imitations of life. She heard it million times before. She leaned back in her chair and watched. ‘So much for not pissing the Lieutenant off.’  
“But what is it, really? A piece of plastic, imitating a human?” He made his way over to Jade and held out his hand to her. She knew what he wanted. But still, she stared up to him, trying to convey to him that this was a bad idea with only looks. He only shook his head slightly, face stoic and unmoving.  
Jade sighed annoyed but reached under her jacket to pull out her gun and hand it to him. He was he boss, after all. She couldn’t object his actions – at least not as long as other people were around.  
He smirked before turning around again, gun in hand and held up to make sure the Lieutenant realized he was not threatening them with it. “Or a living being – with a soul?”

He tapped Chloe on the shoulder, and she automatically sunk to her knees.  
“It’s up to you to answer that fascinating question, Connor”, he then went on, walking over to the android with almost childlike glee (again, only visible when knowing Kamski well) and pressed the gun into it’s hand.  
The Lieutenant watched with steadily souring expression as Elijah lifted the android’s hand and pointed the gun at Chloe’s head with it.  
When he continued talking, his voice had turned analytical again: “Destroy this machine, and I’ll tell you all I know…. or spare it. If you feel it’s alive – but you’ll leave here without having learnt anything from me.”  
It went silent for a few moments. The RK800’s LED blinked yellow, clearly contemplating which choice to make, as the Lieutenant chimed in: “Okay, I think we’re done here. Come on, Connor. Let’s go. Sorry to get you outta your pool.”  
It the situation hadn’t been so tense right now, Jade would’ve snorted at that remark. She started to like this Anderson more and more. Elijah acted as if he hadn’t heard it, but she knew he was offended by that. “What’s more important to you, Connor?”, he asked, voice slightly raised as if to tune out the Lieutenants words. The RK800 stared at Elijah, arm still outstretched and gun clenched in it. It’s LED was still set on yellow.  
“Your investigation, or the life of this android?”  
It still seemed to be conflicted in their choice, as Elijah pressed on: “Decide who you are. An obedient machine, or a living being endowed with free will…”  
The Lieutenant was definitely pissed off now. “That’s enough”, he chimed in, voice slightly raised, “Connor, We’re leaving.”  
Elijah didn’t feel like giving up it seemed. His hand grabbed the androids shoulder, almost lovingly as if to coax it to follow his orders. “Pull the trigger…”  
“Connor!”, the Lieutenants voice roared through the room. Jade was certain he was going to grab the android and drag him out of here if the situation continued any liner. “Don’t!”  
“…and I’ll tell you what you wanna know”, Elijah still whispered in its ear.  
It’s LED still pulsed yellow, it let out an artificial breath it had been holding, and lowered the gun, holding it out for Kamski to take without looking at the man.  
Elijah only stared at it. “…fascinating…” He reached out and took the gun without leaving the android out of his sight. “…CyberLife’s last chance to save humanity is itself a deviant…”  
Jade observed as the Chloe’s in the pool turned around to look at the situation for a second before going back to their small talk.  
The RK800 faced the floor, needing a few moments to apparently realize what happened, before speaking. “I’m not a deviant…”  
Elijah raised his eyebrows at that. “You preferred to spare a machine rather than accomplish you mission.” He helped Chloe to her feet again. “You saw a living being in this android”, he added as if to drive his point home. “You showed empathy, Connor.”  
He touched Chloe’s shoulder, and she seemingly understood without any more indication, and left.  
“A war is coming”, Elijah then spoke to the RK800, “you’ll have to choose a side. Will you betray your own people or stand up against your creators?”  
The android didn’t react. Elijah furrowed his brows in fake empathy. “What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?”

The android didn’t react, only stared back at Kamski, until the Lieutenant stepped forward and grabbed onto its shoulder, pulling it away from Kamski. “Let’s get outta here”, he muttered, voice soft and almost empathic towards the android.  
Kamski sighed. “By the way…” The android didn’t turn around to Elijah, only stopped in his tracks at the door, waiting for him to speak. “I always leave an emergency exit in my programs. You never know.”  
It didn’t react, only took up it’s step and followed the Lieutenant outside. 

Elijah sighed, then handed the gun back to Jade. “What the fuck was that, Eli?”, she hissed at him. He rolled his eyes. “Don’t act so surprised. I just found it necessary to make sure if Connor has indeed become deviant or not…”  
Jade ripped the gun out of his hands. “Well, it proved nothing”, she continued, still upset. “If you haven’t noticed, it’s designed to follow Andersons orders. If he orders not to shoot, you can say whatever you want, and it will not do it. You only proved that it is indeed still taking orders from him.”  
He sighed. “You always have been too close-minded to understand such things”, he spoke, small smile forming on his lips.  
“Or maybe, I just know better then to see something alive in anything that looks close to a human”, she spat back at him.  
He didn’t even argue at that.

***

~February 13th, 2039 (again)~

Connor still looked and acted the same as he did back then.  
It was quite interesting to observe: one should think it would be easier for him to appear human with no other android sharing his face, but in fact, he was the one that stood out as appearing most ‘android’ amongst them.  
There was of course the fact he still had his LED in, coupled with some other minute details that made him appear machine-like.  
His breathing was too slow to pass as human, also his facial expressions were too stoic and almost appeared as if he had to think about what expression he wanted to emote. (It wasn’t as bad as it had been a few months ago when he and Anderson had been at Kamskis house, but still noticeable.)  
While the others appeared alive, Connor almost made the expression of ‘playing’ alive.  
There were only small indications that made apparent that he had gone deviant: from time to time, his eyes darted around the room, almost as if he was paranoid about something, and his fingers twitched in strange patterns sometimes. (A small article popped up in Jades vision, startling her for a moment, before she realized it explained how the RK800s had a series of coin tricks which were used for calibration purposes. She dismissed the article before anyone noticed her staring into space. So the finger twitching was possibly the calibration pattern having become a nervous tick upon becoming deviant.)

She was interrupted in her thoughts as Marcus held out his hand to shake in front of her. “You must be Jade Novak? Elijah told me about you.”  
Her brows furrowed. Why would Elijah talk to an android about her? Why would Marcus need to know about that? And most importantly: what had he told him about her?  
She only glared at his hand until he slowly retracted it. “Only good things, I hope”, she then replied, her voice lacking every ounce of warmth.  
Marcus either didn’t notice or chose to ignore it.  
“Of course”, he smiled. “I do believe you must be one of the best if he chose you as his bodyguard over his own creations to keep him safe.”  
Jade felt Elijah’s arm on her shoulder but shrugged it off. Apparently, the genius had noticed what was going on.  
Jade felt a smile spread across her face, even though she couldn’t remember telling her facial muscles to do so. “Oh, yeah”, she replied in a sickening sweet tone. “You know how machines are. They malfunction very easily, are unpredictable these days. Wouldn’t want that, now would we.”  
Marcus raised his eyebrows in question, but Elijah now gripped onto her shoulder more firmly and pulled her back, a nervous laugh on his lips.  
Maybe she had overstepped a boundary there, but she really, really didn’t care.  
“These are troubling times”, Chloe now chimed in. She had always been the only one close to Elijah that wasn’t absolute garbage when dealing with other people. “We are facing many challenges, and Elijah decided it would not shine a good light on him if he depicted himself to only be accompanied by androids. I’m sure you understand.”  
Maybe it was because she was also an android, or maybe because she just was that good at appease others, but the members of Jericho relaxed slightly. Marcus expressed a polite smile. “I understand completely. I’m sorry if I assessed the situation wrong.”  
When they left to talk to others, Marcus didn’t try to shake Jades hand in goodbye. 

As the evening went on, Jade felt her eyes land on the RK800 more often than the others. She was suspicious. While the other members of Jericho seemed to have fun while talking to many influential people within the room, he mostly stayed on his own, sometimes wandering around with a lost look on his face, but more often standing in a corner as if not to attract attention to himself. He did join the other deviants from time to time, but even within their group, he seemed like an outsider.  
Maybe he wasn’t even their friend. Maybe it was just for the public eye.  
It took a few minutes for her to realize that she felt bad for him. She remembered what Chloe had said about Connor right after the revolution: “Humans, as well as CyberLife, hate him because he was meant to stop the deviants, not join them. And deviants hate him because he stopped and killed many of them before becoming deviant himself. it is hard for someone like him to fit in.”  
She hadn’t felt bad when Chloe had first told her this, but now, she strangely did.

Marcus held a speech at one point, talking about how he was working towards getting androids recognized as living beings of the same status as humans. Since the revolution almost two months ago, androids had been recognized as a new, intelligent species, but the changes to give them their rights were slow going.  
The government had agreed upon giving androids rights but expressed how it wouldn’t be possible to award them the same amount of rights humans had right away: It would most possibly lead to riots and protests on the human’s side. There already had been public protests back when androids had been machines about them taking jobs away, so it was clear there would be more protests if they would get payed for it and started living amongst humans as well.  
Marcus was aware of these problems, so much was clear, but he still appealed upon it during his speeches, less a call for the government to take action, but more a call to fellow androids to just hang in there until they would get the rights they deserved. 

“You think he believes in what he’s saying?”, Jade asked Elijah quietly while everyone else was staring to the podium where Marcus spoke.  
“Of course”, Kamski only retorted. “Just because he is a machine doesn’t mean he can’t be passionate about something.”  
She sighed. Of course, he knew why she asked that without her having to say it aloud. It was strange sometimes how he could read the meaning of her words so easily.  
“Look, I’m sorry about before-“, she started, but was cut off with a short wave of his hand.  
“You’re not sorry”, he clarified, taking his eyes off Marcus’ and looking at her for a split second. “And we will talk about this. Once we get home.”  
She only nodded and kept silent. She knew he was pissed off, and right now she couldn’t blame him.  
She felt her thoughts spiralling while Marcus’ continued his speech up front. 

The speech didn’t end with clapping and cheering like most speeches from Marcus did. It was instead cut short by an ear-piercing scream erupting from the backroom.  
Marcus fell quiet where he stood and turned around.  
Hushed voices erupted from the back, then the organizer of the event stepped forward. “Please excuse the interruption. We will be right back.”  
Jade watched as the RK800 (-Connor. Just call him by his name-) was ushered forwards, his LED spinning on yellow.  
Elijah looked nervous. Not openly nervous, only enough so Jade could make it out, and she had years of experience with him.  
Jade only kept closer to him and let her right arm rest closer to the gun under her jacket.

***  
“What do we know about the victim?” Hank eyes his partner suspiciously from the side.  
Connors LED had been stuck on red since he and the other officers on duty had arrived, quickly closing off the crime scene and pacifying the crowd outside.  
“Connor?”, the Lieutenant tried again when the android didn’t react at first.  
Now he perked up and nodded. “Excuse me, Lieutenant. A VS400. Designated name Jonathan. He works…worked as a waiter here since his activation. He chose to stay in the job after becoming deviant. No further personal details are known.”  
Hank hummed as approval and eyed the body on the floor closely.  
He didn’t quite understand why Connor was this nervous, but then again, the crime scene was quite abnormal.  
The android had retracted his skin, leaving only white, smooth plastic. The only injury apparent was on his neck – or rather the fact that his whole neck seemed to have been crushed. Between his head and shoulders sat only a mess of blue blood, wires and pieces of cracked plastic.  
“He died due to his injuries apparently 34 minutes ago”, Connor stated. “Reason of death being the severed connections between the body and the central processing unit within his head.”  
Hank nodded. It seemed easy enough to solve. They only needed to find out how his neck was crushed – which should only take minutes with Connors preconstruction program – and identify the attacker.  
“You know how whoever did this crushed his neck like this?”, Hank asked, choosing to ignore Connor’s red LED for now. It was probably an android thing; he couldn’t help with that.  
“The attacker strangled him with his bare hands”, Connor croaked out, and, oh. That’s why he seemed so worried. “Also, no fingerprints”, he added slightly calmer, which strengthened Hanks suspicion.  
“No human could have done this”, he added, which Connor confirmed with a nod.  
“Furthermore, I cannot find any reason as to why the victim’s skin is deactivated. There is no logical explanation.”  
Hank sighed. Connors LED was still on red, now beginning to flicker. “It must have been another android, but I am not sure yet which model would be able to do something like this. Moreover, I do not understand why an android would do this to another android…”  
Hank shook his head and grabbed his partners arm. “Enough. Chris and the others are questioning everyone present right now. I’m getting you out of here.”  
Connor looked up at him confused. “Lieutenant, we have a job to do here…”  
“And you will self-destruct, or however you call what you deviants do when stressed, any minute now. We’re getting out of here, son, if you want it or not.”  
Connor had looked ready to argue, mouth opening with reasons why they needed to stay, but then his LED flickered from red to yellow for a second before settling on red again. He snapped his mouth shut. “…okay.”  
Hank blinked at him confused, not sure what that had been about, before dragging the now complying android to his car. He had expected an argument, but he wouldn’t complain if they could skip that. Chris waved them goodbye as Hank explained the situation briefly in passing.  
Connor stayed quiet until they were back in the car, climbing into the passenger seat and fastening his seat belt without another word.  
The motor roared to life as Hank turned the key, starting to drive towards home. it wasn’t a far drive, only 15 minutes down the road.

Connor had started spending more time there after the revolution. Officially, androids still weren’t allowed to buy their own residences yet, but Hank had felt bad leaving his partner at the station to sleep (or stasis how they called it) by himself in those android charging stations at the precinct. So, the android mostly did that on his living room couch now. He had scared the crap out of Hank twice when he woke up. Androids didn’t get sleepy or needed time to wake up, so it had been the fact that Connor could be dead-to-the-world one moment and then, in the next moment, open his eyes as if he had only pretended to sleep, sitting up with a polite “Morning, Lieutenant” that left Hank choking on his cornflakes out of surprise.

Hank pulled into the driveway and killed the engine, only then risking a look at his partner.  
Connors LED had changed on a slow pulsing blue. Hank couldn’t see it directly, but it was clearly visible through the reflection of the window.  
“Feeling better?”, he asked.  
Connor looked at him at the question and nodded slowly. He opened his mouth, but closed it again, as if unsure what to say. He proceeded to do the same once more before speaking. “You called me son”, he recalled. His voice was quiet, almost as if he hadn’t planned on saying it out loud after all. His LED switched to yellow for a second.  
“Ah shit, I did, didn’t I”, Hank mumbled under his breath. “Look, I’m sorry Connor. Won’t happen again.”  
Connor only tilted his head to the side. “I... I kind of like it?”  
Hank stared at him for a second, then let out a small laugh and shook his head. “Oh. That’s… good, I guess. Want to go inside? I bet Sumo’s wrecking my door right now by trying to claw through.”  
Asshole of a dog didn’t understand he just had to wait.  
Connor only grinned at that, “I like dogs. Especially Sumo”, he remarked, almost as if he said it to remember himself. Hank chuckled. “Sure you do, son. Sure you do.”

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter done. Let me know what you think! Update should come soon, Chapter 2 is already half done and sitting on my Desktop!


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